Punch Card Jam Needs Some Force

In 2010, representatives from the Computer History Museum visited a company in Texas still using an IBM 402 mainframe for everyday accounting jobs: http://ibm–1401.info/402.html

Punch cards stuck in computer.

“Jam needs SOME force”

Front view of jammed punch cards.

“Card Jam Front View”

The article below mentions the CHM trip to Texas, and a few other old computers still in use:

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It: Ancient Computers in Use Today, by Benj Edwards at PCWorld, 2012 (Internet Archive: Wayback Machine)

The biggest problem with maintaining such ancient computer systems is that the original technicians who knew how to configure and maintain them have long since retired or passed away, so no one is left with the knowledge required to fix them if they break.

(Originally published on my old site, "The Digital Imaginary" [imaginary.digital], on March 3rd, 2015 -- revised and republished April 2nd, 2025.)